ShmoopTube

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[ musical flourish ]

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And here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by ignorance.

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Never let it stop you from having an opinion. [a man standing behind a lectern giving a speech]

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First read the following sentence.

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Do not disparage cultures that you know nothing about. [someone throwing a tomato on a man's face]

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All right, disparage most nearly means what?

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And here are the potential answers.

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[ mumbles ]

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Well, there are so many cultures in the world that we don't fully understand, [a question on screen with multiple choice answer]

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like the indigenous tribes of South America

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or the nomadic housewives of North New Jersey. [man taking a picture with his camera]

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So how should we treat these unfamiliar cultures?

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Now this isn't necessarily an answer you can infer from the context, [two women standing with their hand at their waist]

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but context can help.

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Engage means to occupy the attention of or to secure.

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Ignorance of a culture doesn't mean you shouldn't engage it.

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Well, heck, sometimes you can learn something, [an image of two cocktail glasses on a board]

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like the best place to get appletinis at 10 A.M.

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Agitate means to disrupt or stir up.

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Now, while it's true that you generally shouldn't disrupt [meaning of the word agitate written on a piece of paper]

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things you don't understand, well, that's not the best definition here.

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And portray means to depict or represent.

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It's also true you probably shouldn't depict cultures you know nothing about. [a movie theater with sign Now playing - Transformers]

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Ahem. Michael Bay, we're looking at you.

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But, again, it's not the right definition.

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That leaves us with D - belittle.

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Well, disparage means to talk badly about something or to belittle it.

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As in, "Critics belittle the works of Michael Bay." [a man in a theater showing thumbs down]

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And we should never disparage cultures we don't understand.

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Well, almost never. D is the correct choice.

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And congratulations. You're not ignorant [a man with his hands up celebrating something - confetti popping]

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at all. Unless you like Transformers.

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And, well, we really can't help you. Sorry.

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Beep boop beep boop boop.

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Boooop.

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